§ Sir H. COTTONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been drawn to the judgments of Mr. Chotzner, district and sessions judge, Mr. Beatson Bell, additional district magistrate, Mr. Barneville, joint magistrate, and Moulvie Mahomed Momin, Moulvie Faizuddin Hossein, and Baboo Jamini Mohun Das, deputy magistrates, who were all employed in trying Mahomedan riot cases in the Mymensingh district of Eastern Bengal, to the effect that the disturbances were attributable to a wave of fanaticism due to causes specified in their judgments entirely unconnected with the boycott of British goods; whether the official explanation of these riots was that they owed their origin to the Hindoos interfering with the Mahomedans in the purchase of British goods; and whether, having regard to these conflicting statements and the importance of the matter, he will direct an independent inquiry to be made, by means of a Commission or otherwise, into the causes of the recent riots in the Mymensingh district.
§ MR. MORLEYI expect to receive in due course from the local government a report giving a comprehensive view of these disturbances, and the causes to which they were due will then no doubt be further elucidated. The opinions of the officers who tried the cases will of course be taken into consideration by the local Government. There does not appear to be any reason why a special inquiry should be instituted.